Singapore Round 13 Race

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton seem to be in trouble with an electrical glitch but they have resolved it and both are fine.

Race

The race is under way but Max Verstappen’s Torro Rosso isn’t as he stalls and is last. Vettel leads ahead of Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Daniil Kvyat, Hamilton and Rosberg. Vettel extends his lead to 5 seconds on lap 8 to Ricciardo, who has a 3 second buffer to Raikkonen.

Lap 10, Romain Grosjean is first to pit as he battle with Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. Lap 11, Alonso, Sainz, Marcus Ericsson and Pastor Maldonado pit and Grosjean gets the jump on Sainz but not the McLaren of Alonso.

Lap 12, Nico Hulkenberg pits as he is ahead of Sergio Perez and behind Felipe Massa. Lap 13, Massa pits as Hulkenberg makes he way across the finish line. Into turn 1, both are neck to neck as Massa takes the inside of the corner but Hulkenberg does not see him and both colide, sending Hulkenberg into the wall and out. This brings out the Virtual Safety car.

Lap 14, Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Kvyat, Hamilton, Rosberg and Valterri Bottas pit. Jenson Button also pits but he is stationary for over 50 seconds as a wheel nut is stuck inside the tyre. The problem is resovled and he is back out on track. Lap 15, Massa pits as there is little damage to his car and the Safety car is deployed. Lap 16, Vettel leads from, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Rosberg, Kvyat and Bottas. Kvyat lost out to Hamilton and Rosberg as he had to wait for the cars to pass in the pit lane. Lap 19 and the Safety cars is in.

Lap 22, Vettel is not going as fast as he was and trying to back Ricciardo into his team mate Raikkonen to try and get past. The same and the stewards have given a 3 place grid drop to Hulkenberg for causing a collision with Massa on lap 13.

Lap 27, Hamilton is reporting a loss of power and he is slowing. Grosjean pits on the same lap. Lap 28 and Maldonado pits. Lap 29, Ericsson and Sainz pit for a second time. Lap 30, Massa drives into the pits and does not stop in his pit box, he just drives through and rejoins the race. The next lap and he retires. Hamilton has fallen back and is now just been past by both Manor cars. He retires on lap 32.

Button try’s to overtake Maldonado, Maldonado runs wide and off track as Button dives for the inside for the next corner. Button hits the back of Maldonado’s car and loses a part of his front wing. At the end of that lap, Button pits. In a race where McLaren hoped for points, Button retires on lap 52 ending any hope of points.

Lap 55, Maldonado pits and continues. Lap 57, Vettel leads from, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Bottas, Kvyat, Perez, Verstappen, Sainz and Grosjean. Have been 1 and a half laps down, Verstappen has fought his way up to 8th and is catching Perez. Lap 59, Grosjean retires, handing 10th place to Nasr.

A good race although i would of liked a little more overtaking. Faultless weekend by Vettel, Awesome. Although Hamilton retired, it is not him feeling the pressure as much, its his team mate should be with Rosberg on 211 points and Vettel on 203 points. A fantastic drive from Verstappen to get to 8th. Maldonado finished, just about as his collision with Button left him with a damaged diffuser. Japan will be intresting to see if Mercedes have got speed to actually try and win!